


Let's Be Alone Together

by etselec



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Librarian AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 02:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3273263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etselec/pseuds/etselec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU - Gerard Way needs a temporary job before his art career takes off. One of his friends, Ray Toro, gets him a job at the New York Public Library—<i>yeah</i>, that one. He could handle being a librarian for a couple weeks/months. What he wasn't prepared for was his co-worker to be this hot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Be Alone Together

**Author's Note:**

> hey disclaimer: i've never been to the new york public library so some of the things in this may be incorrect

Gerard had always liked going to the library growing up.

When he was in fifth grade, he and Mikey would walk to their small hometown library and spend hours, reading all the crumpled up, dogeared comics and checking out books that he knew he never had time to read.

Mikey would drag him to the huge fish tank by the picture books and they would watch the fish swim for what seemed like forever (“It’s _Nemo_ Gee!”).

Through middle school and high school, Gerard and Mikey would be at the library nearly everyday—so much, that the librarians, the nice older ladies from their neighborhood, would know their names and sometimes they even let them help reshelve books.

Now, Gerard was a year out of college and finally living in an apartment after living at his mother’s house. He scraped together cash from his shitty job as a pizza delivery boy and bought a decent sized apartment just outside of New York City; he was no longer a pizza delivery boy because his awesome friend from art school got him a temporary job as a librarian at the New York fucking Public Library before his art career took off (he actually _just_ got an email from someone at Dark Horse. Holy _shit._ ). _Temporary_. Yeah, Ray was pretty cool—actually _cooler_ than cool. He could probably be compared to like Batman or something.

“You start your job tomorrow?” Mikey asked, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. He and Gerard met for coffee quite often nowadays because Mikey happened to go to college in the city.

“Job _training_ tomorrow, but yeah,” Gerard said. “It’s gonna be pretty fucking sweet, I can tell.”

“Temporary, right?”

Gerard nodded and then smiled. “I actually just got an email from Dark Horse. _Yeah_ , fucking Dark Horse. So, this job is going to be more temporary than I thought. Kind of sad though; I really like libraries.”

Mikey snorted into his hot chocolate. “ _Duh_. You dragged me to the library everyday when we were little.

Gerard frowned.

“Not like I didn’t enjoy it or anything! Loved those fucking fish, man.”

“ _Hell_ yeah,” Gerard punched Mikey in the shoulder. “By the way, how’s college, bro?”

Mikey shrugged, gulping the last of his hot chocolate. “It’s okay, not too bad… yet, at least.”

“Did you meet any girls—or _guys_?” Gerard was a proud brother when Mikey came out to him as bisexual back when Gerard was a senior in high school. Gerard was already out as gay by then, but it just made him smile that Mikey was the first person he told.

“Shut up, I don’t want to talk about my love life with you,” Mikey rolled his eyes.

“ _Oh_. So there _is_ someone.”

“No!”

Gerard raised his eyebrows.

“Maybe, okay? But I don’t even know if he likes guys!” Mikey protested. He turned a bright pink and adjusted the beanie on his head.

“What’s his name? Aw, come _on_ Mik _ey_ —hey stop hitting me! Dude, what are you, five?”

Mikey crossed his arms and scowled at him and Gerard would never admit, but whenever Mikey looked angry, he just ended up resembling like a puppy. “Pete. He’s my room mate.”

“Fuck, man, that must suck. Have you, like, seen him take his shirt off when he thought you were sleeping?”

“The _fuck_ , Gee?”

“Dunno, your situation kinda sounds like a porno,” Gerard said seriously. He took a sugar cookie off of his napkin and bit a huge chunk of it.

Mikey choked on his own spit. “Fuck. It does.”

\--

“Ray! Hey!” Gerard waved his arms up and down. He was currently on the steps of the library, bouncing around, trying to keep himself warm in the fall weather.

“Gerard,” Ray smiled and engulfed Gerard into a hug. “What’s up, man?” When Gerard shrugged, Ray continued. “Okay, so I’m really busy today because we got a whole new shipment of children’s books and my manager, Brian is making me help. So, Frank Iero will be showing you how to be a librarian and checkout and reshelve and all that. Frank’s one of my best friends and I actually got Frank a job here a couple months ago so I figured you two would be able to work together. I’m sorry I can’t be the one to show you the ropes, man.”

Gerard shook his head. “It’s fine, really. Did I ever tell you I worked at a library before? It’ll be a piece of cake.” It was kind of a lie, but all those days at his hometown library felt like a job.

“You’re the best, Gerard,” Ray’s pocket vibrated. “Fuck, that’s Brian. I told Frank to meet you by the checkout center. We all have name tags but I think you’ll know who he his; he’s about a year younger than you.” Ray took his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll see you around, Gee.” He headed down the steps and ran down the sidewalk in a hurry.

Gerard stood in the same place for a good minute before he took a deep breath and decided to get inside. Just the presence of the huge-ass library made him anxious but now that his only friend in this giant building wasn’t here on his first day, he wanted to disappear into the shiny tile floors.

He followed the signs and tugged on his jacket multiple times and finally made it to the checkout after finding out stupidly that he went the long way around. Gerard looked around for this Frank guy but all there seemed to be were old ladies.

“Hey!” someone blocked his view and smiled. “Are you Gerard Way?”

Gerard blinked, finally understanding. “Yes, um, are you Frank?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Frank smiled and gave Gerard some more personal space. He shook his hand.

Gerard studied him for a second; he could see tattoos peeking out from the ends of his sleeves and a neck tattoo that snuck down his shirt.

It was kind of hot. God, Frank was hot. He thought of that fucking pick-up line (“I don’t have a library card, but can I check you out?”) of all things; maybe he would use it on Frank if he gained any courage to.

“You wanna get to the tour?” Frank asked, shuffling his feet, clearly wanting to get this done.

Right. Frank was just another co-worker for Gerard to pine over. _Get over yourself._

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

Frank lead Gerard down some halls. “Don’t worry about getting lost. I was worried about that on my first day. There are signs fucking everywhere—fuck—I mean, ugh, sorry for swearing. Ray says I have to work on not swearing around customers,” Frank giggled and it was the cutest thing Gerard had ever heard.

“‘s okay. Honestly, I forget not to swear around some of my friends’ kids.” It was true. His friend had gotten some girl pregnant during the beginning of his college days and when he came to visit them a few weeks ago, he probably said “fuck” at least ten times around their two-year-old.

Frank nodded, smiling to himself. “I’m taking you to the break room first; I have your name tag in there.”

“Oh cool, I got a name tag already?” Gerard teased, following Frank up a set of stairs.

Frank made a noise that could be a laugh. “Yeah, Ray printed one out the minute you accepted the job.” They headed down another hallway and into a room with a high ceiling and tall windows. Just the feel of the room made Gerard more relaxed.

“Here’s the break room. Coffee over there, tea over there, cups in that corner. Cream and sugar in the cabinet—oh hey Brendon,” Frank waved behind him, “Brendon’s cool. You’ll get to know him.”

Gerard opened his mouth to say something useful, but all that came out was, “I think the break room may be bigger than my apartment.”

Frank snorted and then covered his mouth as if to apologize. “Shit—I mean, _shoot_ —same, man, same.” They walked into a room half the size of the previous one. This one had a desk and a computer and several papers fucking everywhere so the file cabinets in the corner didn’t seem to be much of a use.

“Geez. This is Ryan’s office. He manages—or at least _tries_ to manage—all of the events and stuff. Let me try and find your name tag in this mess, sorry.”

Gerard chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m patient.”

“I think it’s down here, hold on,” Frank said, getting on his hands and knees and crawling to the edge of the wall.

Okay. Gerard _tried_ not to look at Frank’s ass, but it was _there_ and hey, it was _really_ nice to look at. He turned a bright red and blinked a few times.

“—is that okay with you?”

Gerard hadn’t been paying attention to Frank. Well, what he was _saying_ anyways. “What?”

“I asked if you were okay with showing you to check me out—I _mean_ with _me_ showing _you_ how to checkout books. _Books._ ”

Gerard blushed. Frank was still on the ground with his face away from him, but he swore he saw pink on his cheeks, too. “Yep. Totally fine with that.” _All of that, honestly._

Frank stood up and faced Gerard and hazel eyes met hazel eyes. Frank cleared his throat and held a piece of plastic out. “This is your name tag. You could put it on now, well, if you want.”

“Thanks,” Gerard pinned it on his shirt. “I feel like an official librarian now—um… except for actually knowing what to do yet.”

Frank smiled at him, genuinely. “You’re pretty adorable, y’know, just thought I’d say that.”

Gerard wanted to say something like “thank you” or “so are you” but all he could manage past his lips was a squeak. The room suddenly felt warm. “I—”

“Come on, let’s go.”

\--

Gerard and Frank walked to the checkout counter in silence. Frank hopped over the desk to the other side. Gerard stared at him, eyes widening before Frank laughed and told him to walk the other way around.

“Okay,” Frank typed something on the computer and clicked a on a couple things before sighing. “It’s really not that difficult—I learned it in five minutes. Here.” Frank gestured to the computer.

Gerard swallowed and stood in front of it. He was never really good with computers. One time when he was seventeen, he was young and an idiot and got a virus on his mom’s laptop from watching porn. It wasn’t even _good_ porn.

Frank showed Gerard where to click and what to do in certain situation and where to scan the books and yeah, it actually _was_ pretty easy. “So, I’m going to,” Frank looked over his shoulder then grabbed a book off of a desk, “pretend to be checking out a book for practice, alright? You got this, Gerard.”

Gerard blinked wide-eyed and afraid that he would end up ripping the book in half or accidentally pull a lever sending Frank down some secret trapdoor. “I got this,” he repeated to himself.

Frank jumped over the counter like he did before and stood in front of Gerard, smiling like an idiot. Gerard wanted to kiss the stupid smile off his dumb face. “Hi, I’d like to check out this book… uhhh… _Female Anatomy_ …”

Gerard suppressed a giggle. “Alright.” He scanned the book and did all the other things Frank had taught him with the library card. Huh. So Gerard isn’t completely clueless.

“Nice job, Gee,” Frank hopped to the other side of the counter and high-fived him. “I’d say you’re an official librarian now.” The way Frank flashed a grin at him made Gerard want to melt into a puddle of goo. He could barely manage a “thank you”.

\--

Gerard knew a lot more about reshelving than he did about checking books out and technology (really, it was just organization) so he was out of the library in ten minutes.

Gerard mustered up all the courage he could and thanked Frank for showing him around. He probably sounded like an idiot—a blabbering, dumb idiot.

But Frank just laughed and pat him on the back (which definitely did _not_ send shivers down his spine), thanking him for coming. They shook hands and parted their ways and Gerard was _so_ screwed, so very screwed. He could see the future now and it was filled with endless pining.

\--

Gerard dialed up Mikey the minute he got home. He kicked off his shoes and crashed on to his couch and flipped to a random channel on his TV while waiting for Mikey to pick up.

“Yeah?” Mikey answered.

“Mikey, I need some brotherly advice,” Gerard urged.

He heard Mikey sigh on the other line. “What?”

“I have a crush on my co-worker.”

“And?”

“What should I do?” Gerard asked pathetically.

Mikey laughed. “Really? You’re asking _me?_ Were you even paying attention to me talking about Pete the other day?”

“Yeah, but I thought you could help me!”

“You _literally_ told me my situation was a porno. Do you really think I’m going to help you?”

“Well _yeah!_ ” Gerard blurted out, sitting himself up.

Gerard heard rustling in the background. “Shit. Pete’s here and he looks pissed off. I’ll call you later.” Mikey hung up.

Mikey _fucking_ Way hung up on his own brother. Really. Could some dumbass guy really be more important than the fucking crisis Gerard was having?

God, why did Gerard even call him in the first place?

Shaking his head and mumbling to himself, Gerard pushed himself off of the couch and wandered into the kitchen. When he opened his cabinet, he knew he wasn’t going to be impressed on what was in there. He settled for a bag of cheetos he think came in the mail as a free sample and crashed back down on the couch.

Gerard ate a few cheetos before falling asleep to an episode of Kitchen Nightmares.

His phone woke him up an hour later. “Hello?”

“Holy shit, Gee, you’ll never guess what just happened!” Mikey shouted into his ear. He could hear him trying not to giggle in between words. “Oh my God, oh my God.”

“What happened?”

“I just made out with my roommate!” Mikey exclaimed.

Gerard groaned, scrubbing a hand down his face. “You woke me up from my nap for this?”

“I don’t care if you were fucking a dude, man,” Mikey said, “It happened right after I hung up on you. Pete was angry because of his professor and one thing lead to another…”

“Ew, ew, ew,” Gerard interrupted, “please stop.”

Mikey sighed. “He’s so hot, though.”

“Ew.”

“Oh hey actually, he’s in a band and they’re playing this weekend and I don’t want to go alone. Could you come with to see him with me? I also really want you to meet him; you’d like him.”

Gerard considered this for a moment. He hadn’t been to a concert in months and this could be fun. “Okay. Just don’t make out with him in front of me. _Please_.”

He could just see the smirk on Mikey’s face. “I’ll try.”  
\--

His job training was on a Friday so the concert was the next day. Gerard rolled out of bed and texted Mikey to pick him up whenever. He spent the few hours that he was at home watching dumb MTV reality shows and losing his faith in humanity.

At around 1PM, he heard Mikey’s car horn outside his apartment window.

“Hey Mikes,” Gerard slid into the passenger seat, “you ready to see your _boyfriend_?”

Mikey muttered something under his breath before hitting the gas. “‘s not my boyfriend yet.”

"Uh- _huh_ ," Gerard teased, buckling his seatbelt.

They made it into the venue in under ten minutes (Mikey must really like this Pete guy). They walked to the concert where a band was just about to start.

“What’s the band Pete’s in?” Gerard asked, following Mikey who was shoving his way to the front of the stage.

“Fall Out Boy,” Mikey replied, a twinkle in his eyes. Ew.

Gerard rolled his eyes, trying not to touch any of the other concert goers. He stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned over to Mikey. “What band is this?”

“Pencey Prep, I think. I only checked the poster once,” Mikey answered, “I hope they’re good.”

Gerard nodded in agreement.

The band finally shuffled on to stage and the crowd cheered. Gerard watched in amusement as someone stepped up to the microphone. “Uh, hi, we’re Pencey Prep.”

Then he finally realized that he _knew_ that guy. _Oh my God._ “ _Mikey_ , that’s _Frank_ ,” Gerard lowered his voice to a whisper, “the guy I work with—who I have a _crush_ on!”

Mikey snorted. “This is going to be great,” he nudged him in the ribs, “he _is_ pretty cute, though.”

Gerard mumbled something before turning bright red. They played a song or two before Frank locked eyes with Gerard. _Shit._

Mikey looked from Frank to Gerard and back to Frank again. “I think he _likes_ you,” he sing-songed.

“Shut up!”

Frank was thrashing his body around on stage like he fucking owned the place. Gerard’s sure he crashed into each band member at least twice. It wasn’t only interesting to watch but also _really_ hot, _fuck_. It was like Frank was fucking doing it on purpose!

“Pete’s band is next! Oh my God,” Mikey said once Pencey Prep finished their set. Gerard _swore_ that Frank winked at him.

Mikey shook Gerard’s shoulders. Mikey fucking Way fucking dragging him to this goddamn concert. It was _all_ his fault.

“Whatever, let’s get this over with and leave,” Gerard folded his arms.

Mikey raised an eyebrow at him. “What? Hell no, dude. We’re meeting Pete after this and we’re going to to get a bite with him and his band.”

“Fucking shit, Mikey! You could’ve told me this before we left,” Gerard felt heat rise to his cheeks in betrayal.

Mikey opened his mouth to say something else but the roar of the crowd spoke over him. _Lucky_ for Gerard, Mikey was one of them screaming—right in his fucking ear.

“Hey, we’re Fall Out Boy and um, I’m Patrick—” a black haired guy walked over to Patrick and whispered something in his ear and pointed into the audience.

“That’s Pete,” Mikey smiled and waved at Pete who waved back. Pete wasn’t a bad looking dude. Gerard would never admit, but Mikey sure did have good taste in guys.

Patrick tapped the microphone and cleared his throat. “So, Pete over there wants to dedicate this song to his roommate, Mikey Way,” Patrick looked blankly over to Pete, “he says, ‘Mikey, I’ve had a crush on you for a long time’—ew Pete, I’m not saying the rest. Whatever. This is _Bang the Doldrums_.”

A collective chorus of giggles filled the audience. Gerard stared at the band in awe and then dared to steal a look at Mikey. “Mikey, holy shit.”

“Oh my God, I’m in love,” Mikey said.

Gerard patted Mikey on the back. “No you’re not, buddy.”

\--

Fall Out Boy wasn’t a bad band and their songs were pretty catchy and the lyrics were, like, this really deep poetry (if Gerard had thought about the songs for more than five minutes, he would zone out). It was kind of a surprise to Gerard that they hadn’t gotten signed to a major label yet.

When Gerard and Mikey found themselves backstage, Mikey spotted Pete immediately, running into him and wrapping his arms around his neck, giving him a sloppy kiss.

“God. Ew,” Gerard said to no one.

“I know. Pete’s been hung up on this guy for weeks,” the guy, Patrick, said to him.

Gerard scooted a few inches away to make some space. “So has Mikey. I’m his brother.”

“Sweet. I’m Patrick.”

Just as Gerard was about to say something else. Someone put their hand on Patrick’s shoulder and Patrick turned around, startled. “Oh. Frank, it’s you.”

Gerard froze up and his mouth seemed to dry up.

“This is Frank, he—”

“We’ve met,” Frank grinned at him, just like he did at the library. Fuck, when did it get so hot in here? “Gerard works at the library with me.”

“Um, yeah,” he blurted out. _God, you fucking idiot, Gerard._

All of the other Fall Out Boy members and Mikey joined Gerard, Patrick and Frank. Pete had his arm around Mikey’s shoulders when he spoke up, “I was thinking we could head over to that restaurant across the street.”

Patrick frowned. “Can’t Pete. Actually Joe and Andy can’t either. We all got dates with those triplets, remember?”

Pete shrugged. “No big deal. I and the Way brothers’ll go. Frank, you wanna come with?”

“Oh,” _Say no, say no,_ “I guess,” _fuck,_ “my bandmates kinda ditched me for those girls over there. I don’t have the guts to tell them that I don’t swing that way.” It was probably just Gerard’s imagination, but did Frank just glance over to him?

“Cool,” Pete said, “also, dude, they’re your friends. They’ll accept you.”

Frank shrugged and it was the single cutest thing he’d seen since yesterday. “I’m just scared. I don’t know, it’s dumb.”

Gerard bit his lip to prevent himself from actually saying “aww” out loud.

“It’s not dumb,” he blurted out. “I mean, I don’t think it is.” He and Mikey met eyes; Mikey smirked at him and Gerard almost yelled “shut the fuck up” even though he had said nothing.

“Wanna get going?” Pete asked, thankfully breaking what would be awkward silence.

They all hummed in agreement.

\--

“You’re a vegetarian?” Pete’s eyes widened at Frank. “I would’ve never guessed. Andy’s a vegan.”

“I don’t know, I like being a vegetarian,” Frank replied, somewhat stirring his salad with a fork. He stabbed some lettuce with his fork and shoved it in his mouth.

Gerard suddenly looked at his chicken sandwich and felt guilty for eating it. “You’re not, like, going to make fun of us for eating meat, right?” Gerard smiled to let him know that he was joking.

“Hell no, man. That’s messed up.” Frank said before smiling back at him.

Gerard blushed _again._ He then watched Mikey lean over to Pete and say something into his ear—something in which caused Pete to turn a very bright pink. _God_ , and _right_ in front of his _own_ brother. What did Gerard do to deserve this—any of this?

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Mikey said suddenly, blinking at Pete.

“Same,” Pete said immediately, “I mean, so do I.”

Gerard glared at them before shooing them away. “Gross.”

“I agree,” Frank nodded before pulling his jacket on.

“Wait, dude, are you just gonna leave me here alone while they have sex in the bathroom?”

“Of course not, Gee,” Frank laughed, “you’re coming with me.”

Gerard sat up straight. “Huh? What, wait where are we going?”

“Takin’ a walk, come on,” Frank stuck his hands in his jacket pockets before nodding his head towards the door.

Gerard hastily pulled his coat on and stumbled out the door with Frank. Frank was _actually_ taking him somewhere—what if he had _planned_ this OMG.

They walked shoulder to shoulder ( _[SCREAMING INTERNALLY]_ ) down the block. “So, Gerard, Ray tells me you’re only working at the library part-time…?”

“Oh, um, I was an art student two years ago and I’m still waiting for my art career to take off,” he explained, “I just got an email from Dark Horse about my comic.”

“You were an _art_ student and you were noticed by _Dark Horse?_ Holy shit, dude, that’s fucking awesome. Could you show me your work sometimes? I mean if you’re okay with it.”

Gerard stared at his feet on the sidewalk to hide the grin threatening to spread across his face. “I’ll think about it.”

“Cool,” Frank stopped in front of a park bench and sat down and gestured for Gerard to sit next to him. Gerard obeyed, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I wanted to take a walk because I thought it’d be awkward if we were just, you know, _there_ when they got back. And I wanted to get to know you better since we’d be working together.”

“Oh,” was all Gerard could think of saying. It was like Mikey had actually done something _good_ today that lead him and Frank to actually start to become friends.

Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out a flattened pack of cigarettes. “You smoke?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Gerard accepted the cigarette and they smoked in silence.

It was around 5PM and the sun was just going down. The sky was a nice orange, like the color of a Creamsicle, and it was kind of beautiful. “How’d you become a librarian, Frank? I was wondering.”

“Eh, it kind of just happened. Ray was my friend, I needed a job,” Frank dropped his cigarette n to the sidewalk and squashed it with the heel of his boot. “It’s honestly a pretty steady job, so I think I’m going to stick with it until I find a job as a teacher which could be years from now. I really want to be an elementary school teacher.”

Suddenly a bunch of inappropriate fantasies of “Mr. Iero” flashed quickly through Gerard’s mind. Gerard laughed nervously. “I’m trying to imagine you teaching young kids.”

“Oh, come on, I’d be a _great_ teacher. I filled in for Brendon once for an arts and crafts course.”

Gerard squished his cigarette into the sidewalk with his sneaker. “That doesn’t count as _teaching._ ”

“It _so_ does,” Frank retorted, “and I _like_ working with kids.”

“We should get going,” Gerard quickly changed the subject. He jerked up from the bench. “You know, in case they’re done.”

Frank stood up next to him. “Oh yeah, sure.” He followed Gerard down the block and back to the restaurant. “You should come see my band again,” Frank said suddenly.

“What?”

“You should come see my band again,” Frank repeated, “I mean, because I want you to. See my band.”

“Oh?” Gerard tried not to show the fact that his heart was beating a mile a minute. Before Frank could say something else, Pete and Mikey stumbled out of the bathroom, their hair mussed and clothes wrinkled. Their entire appearance just screamed, “WE JUST HAD SEX”.

“Fucking unsanitary, Mikey, just drive me the fuck home.”

\--

The following Monday, it was Gerard’s first official day as a librarian. He set his alarm for 4:30AM just so his hair would look good that day.

He fidgeted with the product in his hair before finally leaving his house for the library. Everything seemed to be just fine in his head; being a librarian wasn’t all that difficult—you just scanned shit and put books on shelves. But the minute Gerard remembered that Frank would be there, he almost turned his car around.

He couldn’t deal with his hot co-worker being all smiles and shit when Gerard wanted to swoon every time he walked by.

“Gee, hey!” Ray ran towards Gerard the second he entered the building. “What’s up man? You ready?”

Gerard scratched the back of his head and forced out a laugh. “I guess? So, um, what am I doing today?”

“Helping Frank at the checkout until two, break for ten minutes, reshelving and helping people and then you can leave. Pretty easy, huh?”

_Pretty easy, huh?_ Yeah, except for the part when he was going to be with Frank for _five fucking hours._ “Yeah, man. I’m excited as hell.”

“Nice! See you later, okay?” Ray smiled before running off into the other direction.

Gerard nodded before making it to the checkout counter. He already spotted Frank, talking to an old woman on the other side.

“Gerard, hey!” Frank said, running his fingers through his hair. _What the fuck._ The fucking nerd was wearing fucking black-rimmed glasses. _Gerard, you’ve got a nerd kink._

“Oh, hey, Frank,” Gerard almost tripped over his own feet before settling behind his assigned booth. “So, um, it’s my first day.”

“It is,” Frank agreed.

“Any tips?”

Frank bent down to pick up a book from under the stand and giggled. “I think I was drunk my first day, so don’t do that.”

All Gerard could think was, _how did this punk-ass kid get a job at a the New York fucking Library?_ “Check,” Gerard said.

“Huh?”

“Check,” Gerard repeated, swallowing what felt like cotton in his throat, “you know, like a checklist. Check.”

Frank burst out into laughter. The old lady sitting at a table a few feet away from them stared at the two of them with concern, but Frank didn’t seem to care. “Wow, you’re such a dork, dude.”

“Um… thanks?” Gerard stuttered. He set his belongs on a shelf under the checkout counter and tucked his phone into his pocket. “So, nothing I should be worried about?”

“Just don’t get upset with the old people and always agree with the kids,” Frank winked at him before instantly putting on a smile and greeting a young woman with a three books. Gerard must’ve been staring at Frank for a while because suddenly Frank was nodding his head to the side.

A bright blue-eyed girl no older than eight years old stared up at him. “Hello,” Gerard said. The girl’s mother seemed to be behind her, smiling wide with her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Hi, my name is Charlotte and I want to check out this book,” the girl said confidently. She reached up and tried to set the books on the counter but couldn’t, so Gerard found himself half-leaning over the counter to grab them from her.

“Sorry, these counters are a bit tricky,” Gerard shrugged, scanning the book and asking for her library card.

“Do you like dragons?” the girl blurted out, standing on her tip-toes to get a look at Gerard’s face.

The mom made a face. “Now Charlotte—”

“I love dragons, Charlotte,” Gerard interrupted. He handed the book and the library card back to her.

Charlotte nodded. “Good! My friends at school told me that dragons are scary, but I like ‘em.”

“It doesn’t matter what your friends think,” Gerard advised, “you should be able to like what you want to.”

“Wow, thanks mister!” Charlotte’s eyes twinkled as she looked at her mom who forced a grin at Gerard.

“Thank you so much,” Charlotte’s mom said. She took Charlotte’s hand and walked out the library doors.

Gerard let out a breath. _Holy shit,_ he just scanned his first book. It’s not like it was exciting of anything but holy shit he just _did_ something he would get _money_ for. He turned his head to the side only to find himself staring back at Frank. “Frank, oh my God did you see that?”

“Yeah, that was _pretty_ cute, to be honest.”

“I know, right? Charlotte seemed like a good kid.”

Frank leaned against the counter and folded his arms. “I wasn’t talking about the kid.”

Gerard’s heart stopped. His cheeks burned and his legs felt like jelly. Was it just him or was Frank suddenly a foot closer than he was before and did someone turn the heat up?

“Guys, I need some help!” Ray yelled, carrying a huge stack of textbooks. “Brendon and Ryan are _nowhere_ to be seen and I have no idea why.”

Frank and Gerard immediately met eyes and Frank raised an eyebrow. Gerard somehow just _knew_ what he was indicating. Fucking weird.

Gerard bit his lip to stop himself from giggling.

“Anyways, they were supposed to help me deliver these books to the high school and I can’t find them, so you guys’ll help me, right?” Ray pleaded, “I’ll get Brian and Bob to cover for you guys. I’m pretty sure they’re just getting high in the break room right now.”

_This library is fucking insane_. “I’m cool with helping you out, Ray.”

“Same,” Frank nodded, “and ASAP, dude. I’m already bored as fuc— _frick_.”

Ray blinked. “O...kay. Wanna get going?”

\--

Delivering books to the high school pretty much took up half of Gerard’s shift. The high school, which no one seemed to want to tell him, was quite a distance away and they had to deliver every goddam textbook (and boy, Gerard was an art major and even _he_ didn’t know they had art history textbooks this big) to every goddamn classroom and it took over two and a half fucking hours of lifting fifteen pounds of books, walking down the hall, and trying to explain himself to the teachers while the teenagers (God, teenagers scared the literal living _shit_ out of him) stared him down like he was prey. Repeat above process, like, thirty fucking times.

“Fuck, I’m glad that’s done,” Frank sighed as he, Gerard and Ray all piled back into Ray’s car.

Ray whistled. “Damn. That took longer than I thought it would.”

“Agreed,” Gerard chimed in.

The first five minutes of the ride back was silent, then Ray spoke. “Oh, hey, guys. I’m having a party this Sunday. Football’ll be on and I’ll be grilling hot dogs.”

“Sounds great,” Frank said immediately, “except for the hot dog part.”

“Right. Vegetarian,” Ray sighed and rolled his eyes, “oh, and Gee—Mikey’s welcome to come.”

“You know he’s got a boyfriend now,” Gerard said, “and he’s gonna wanna bring him and show him off because he’s Mikey.”

Ray waved his hand around. “Fine. Whatever.”

“I dunno Ray, his boyfriend’s pretty wild,” Frank added.

“You know Mikey?” Ray raised an eyebrow at him in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, he’s dating Pete Wentz.”

_“Jesus_ fucking christ.”

Gerard panicked. “What? Is Pete a rapist or something?” Of course _Mikey_ would be the one to be involved with someone like this.

“No, no, no,” Frank assured, “it’s just that Ray doesn’t like him. At all.”

“Why?”

“He pisses me off, I dunno,” Ray shrugged.

“Should I tell Mikey not to bring him?”

Ray sighed. “I don’t care, he can bring Pete. At least he’ll keep him occupied.”

“You talk about him like he’s a kid,” Gerard laughed nervously.

“That’s what he acts like.”

\--

Mikey stayed the night at Gerard’s house the following Saturday (“Movie marathon, Mikes, hell fucking yeah.”).

The whole week had sucked major balls for the most part.

He had the same schedule as he did Monday, but Frank’s schedule had switched so Gerard only saw Frank in the break room if he was going to grab something or wanted a cup of coffee. They never really talked about much—there was nothing to say; they just greeted each other and tried to make small talk before Gerard tried not to further embarrass himself and made an excuse to get back to work.

But Gerard had actually made a friend within this week. His name was Brendon and Gerard instantly befriended him, recognizing him greeting Frank on his training day.

Brendon was kind of psycho but all around a pretty funny guy; Gerard found himself getting used to his crazy antics since he would be working with him all fucking week.

“You like Frank, don’t you?” Brendon had teased one day, “Ryan,” —Brendon’s boyfriend and fellow co-worker— “tells me that you stare at his ass all the time.”

Gerard, then, was told by Brendon that he had never seen someone turn so red.

“Pete’s meeting us at the party,” Mikey said, sitting himself down onto the floor. “I asked if he wanted to come with me to your house but he said he didn’t want to bother you.”

_Thank God for that._ “Oh good. I wouldn’t want you two being gross in the place where I _fucking live._ ” Gerard smacked Mikey in the head with the back of his hand.

“Dude, ow, sorry,” Mikey rubbed the side of his head. He pulled the bowl of microwave popcorn into his lab and shoveled a handful into his mouth. “What movie are we watching?”

“Chew with your mouth closed,” Gerard said.

“Fuck you.”

Gerard lifted his box of DVDs (conveniently next to his couch) and plopped them atop a couch cushion and sifted through the stacks and stacks and stacks of DVDs—some from, like, the early nineties and what the fuck, is that a chick flick?

“Shaun of the Dead?”

“Hell yeah,” Mikey pumped his fist in the air.

Gerard snatched the bowl of popcorn off of Mikey’s lap. “Then what movie?”

“You got the original Godzilla?”

“ _Duh_.”

“Okay,” Mikey shrugged, pulling his knees up to his chest, “we’ll see if you fall asleep by the end of the first movie.”

“ _Hey_. I do _not_ —I’ve _never_ fallen asleep during a movie.”

“Whatever you say, Gee.”

“Fuck you, Mikeyway.”

“Speaking of fucking, have you talked to Frank lately?—ow! Why’d you hit me again? It was just a question!” Mikey groaned and got up off of the floor and sat himself down in one of Gerard’s armchairs.

“Well _no_ , I haven't been talking to him. Our schedules switched and we haven’t had time.”

“Tragic.”

"Hey, _you_ fucking asked," Gerard snapped. He sighed and stood up to put the DVD on. "I hope you and Pete are pleasant at the party tomorrow. Apparently Ray hates Pete."

Gerard half-expected Mikey to go all "OMG how could he hate Pete. He's perfect and cute and blah blah blah" but thank God, that did not happen. "Tell Ray to suck my dick."

"I bet Pete already does that for you," Gerard mumbled.

"Holy shit."

\--

Gerard had been anxious over the party all Sunday. It was even freaking Mikey out.

“Jesus, Gee, stop freaking out,” Mikey groaned for the ten-millionth time, “I have nothing to worry about and you’re making me start to worry if there’s not enough food, like, what the fuck?”

“Frank’s gonna fucking be there and I’m gonna make a fucking idiot out of myself, I guarantee it.”

“No, you’re _not.”_

“He makes me all jittery and shit, you know?”

“Aww.”

“Shut up!”

Mikey smirked before typing something on his phone. “Pete says you guys should make out. And that it’d be totally hot.”

“Dude, what the fuck?”

Mike shrugged. “It’s what he said.”

Gerard didn’t really want to hear anymore of whatever weird shit Pete Wentz was into and considering that they had to get to Ray’s party in fifteen minutes, he should probably get ready.

He wasn’t necessarily dressing for _Frank_ , he thought when he made it upstairs. Gerard just wanted to look his best and wanted everyone ( _FRANK_ ) to think so, too, so he decided on a graphic tee and leather jacket and skinny jeans.

Another thing was Gerard’s hair. It was black, messy and greasy—still sticking up all over the place from not brushing it through this morning. The thing was, he had never really done anything with his hair because he would always end up fucking it up somehow. He left it alone and headed back to Mikey, who sat sprawled across Gerard’s couch reading one of his music magazines.

“Mikes,” Gerard said, “we gotta go.”

“Okay, hold on let me—holy shit, you clean up nice, dude, Frank’s gonna flip his shit.”

“I didn’t clean up nice for Frank, okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Mikey smiled and met Gerard at his front door. “I’ll be in the car.” He slipped through the door.

\--

There were only a few people at the party and most of them, Gerard knew. He and Mikey were just about the last ones to the party and everyone stared at them for a split second before greeting them.

“I brought Coke if anyone’s up for that,” Mikey held the box up and walked over to the kitchen to set it down.

“Uh, hey,” Gerard waved awkwardly before following Mikey into the kitchen.

“Is Pete here yet?” Mikey asked, taking each can and plopping it into the cooler.

Ray, who was pulling a beer out of the fridge looked at him. “No, not yet,” he turned his head to Gerard so that only he would hear, “thankfully.”

Gerard snorted into the sleeve of his jacket. “Frank here yet?”

Mikey coughed.

Gerard glared at him.

“Woah, Mikey, you alright?”

“Totally,” Mikey said, maintaining eye contact with Gerard. Gerard hated his brother sometimes.

Ray shrugged. “Yeah, but he’s been here since 11 and he’s totally drunk right now. I think his mom pissed him off or something.”

Gerard’s stomach dropped. He exchanged looks with Mikey, who raised his eyebrows.

“I told him to stay in the basement,” Ray continued, “you guys can go say hi if you want.”

The Way brothers both nodded. Mikey dragged Gerard by his sleeve to the other side of the kitchen. “Frank’s probably shitfaced right now.”

“Yeah, so?”

Mikey gave him a look.

Gerard’s eyes widened. “Oh, _dude_ , I’m not going to fucking take _advantage_ of him. What the fuck do you think I am?” Just the thought of that made his heart sink.

“Dunno,” Mikey mumbled, cracking open his can of beer, “I’m gonna wait here for Pete. You should go see Frank.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea—”

“Shut up, I know you want to,” Mikey took a swig of beer before a loud crash startled them.

“Fuck, he’s here,” Gerard heard Ray say from the other room, “I’m gonna go grill or something.” Ray disappeared out the door.

“Mikey? You here?” Pete Wentz stepped into the kitchen wearing skinny jeans and plaid. He held what looked like a box of cookies.

“Hi Pete,” Mikey waved from where he was standing before gesturing for him to come over. Pete smiled and placed the cookies on the counter before pulling Mikey into a hug. It was grossly adorable and it made Gerard want to throw up.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Mikey said, throwing his arms around Pete’s neck.

“Do it.”

Gerard really didn’t want to see his brother and Pete Wentz making out, so the next best decision was to go downstairs. He didn’t know what to expect, but what he saw when he got down there was rather surprising.

Ray’s basement had a huge couch that curved into a U and a flatscreen TV on the wall but basically nothing else—the wallpaper was white and there were no pictures hanging. Gerard found Frank sprawled across the couch, a beer spilled all over one of the cushions and Project Runway playing on the TV.

“Frank?” Gerard asked softly, inching slowly towards the couch. “Uh, it’s, um, me. Gerard.”

“Gerard, hey,” Frank sat himself up and dusted any crumbs off his shirt. “Come over here, man.”

Gerard did as he was told and took a seat next to Frank. “Uh, how are you?”

“‘m good, a little drunk, but I’m good,” Frank giggled. He met eyes with Gerard and took his hand in his. Gerard jumped at the touch. “C’mere. Closer.”

“Frank, what are you—”

“You’re really fucking hot, you know that, Gee?” Frank tugged Gerard on top of him. God, he was so fucking _strong_ , it felt like he would rip his arm off. “Driving me fucking crazy the entire week.”

Gerard turned a bright pink. He was _straddling_ Frank Iero. Frank didn’t want this, he was just drunk and, fuck, Gerard was fucking taking advantage of him. “Frank, I just came to talk, you don’t want this.”

“I so fucking want this. I want you to fucking fuck me,” Frank said roughly. He pulled the lapels of Gerard’s jacket down and suddenly, the world stopped and Gerard Way was kissing Frank Iero. He didn’t _want_ to kiss back, it was wrong— _so_ wrong, but Frank was sucking on his lip and his hands were in Gerard’s hair. It felt so fucking good and Gerard fucking lost it and moaned right into Frank’s mouth.

Frank let go of Gerard’s hair and pulled away from him. “Fuck.”

“Fuck,” Gerard agreed. He could feel Frank’s dick digging into his thigh and that was when he realized how fucking wrong this was. “Frank fuck. Jesus fucking christ.” Gerard backed away from Frank and stood up. “We can’t fucking do this.”

“You want to, don’t you?”

“I,” Gerard folded his arms and refused to face Frank, “I do. I want you so much.”

“Then come _on._ ”

“I can’t, you’re fucking drunk,” Gerard said bitterly. “That’d be bad for the both of his.”

“Fuck, Gee, I’m not fucking drunk,” Frank tried to stand up, but ended up tripping over his own feet and ended up right back down on to the couch.

Gerard shook his head. “I’m sorry, Frank. I’m gonna go, I’ll see you at work.” He headed up the stairs before Frank could say anything about it. He spotted Pete at the fridge and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, can you give Mikey a ride back to my place after the party?”

“Yeah, man, what’s up?” Pete asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Just do it, okay? I’ve got to take my car home.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I just feel a little, uh, sick.”

“Okay, I’ll tell Mikey.”

Gerard sighed. “Pete, you’re the fucking best.”

“Thanks, Gee.”

Gerard rushed out the door and drove all the way home. He wasn’t actually _crying_ , per se, but he sure as hell wanted to. He wasn’t even sure why he felt like crying. It wasn’t like Frank rejected him or anything, hell— _he_ was the one that did the rejecting.

Frank could do one of two things at work the next day.

  1. He could be pissed at Gerard for the rest of his fucking life.

  2. Ignore Gerard and never talk to him ever again.




Both choices made Gerard want to throw up, cry, or both.

\--

“Gerard, wake the fuck up, I can’t fucking deal with this anymore.”

Gerard woke up, curled in a ball on his bed. The room was dark, but he could see the outline of Mikey hovering over him. “Mikey?”

“Gerard, you and I are having a talk right _now_.”

“Mikey, what the fuck, it’s like 2AM.”

“I don’t care if the fucking world was ending, we’re having a talk,” Mikey tore the bedsheets away from over Gerard and walked out into the hallway. “Meet me in the living room.”

Gerard listened to Mikey’s footsteps going down the stairs. He lay in bed for a few seconds and rubbed his eyes listening to the hum of the TV downstairs. Huh. So Mikey must’ve been here a while. Gerard grumbled to himself and finally made a decision to meet Mikey downstairs. Mikey stared at him expressionless and no one knew what to say first.

“Mikey, I can explain—”

“Fucking explain, then,” Mikey cut in, folding his arms.

Gerard told him how he went downstairs at Ray’s house to talk to Frank and how Frank came on to him. He left out all the almost-sex parts. “I had to, okay? I wouldn’t take advantage of him.”

Mikey ran a hand over his hair. “God, Gee, you could’ve told me before leaving like fucking Cinderella.”

“Whatever, I’m going back to bed.”

\--

Mikey was gone by the time Gerard woke up in the morning. He got dressed and made himself a cup of coffee before heading to the bus stop to get into the city. He’d been anxious as fuck over what Frank would do or say when he got there, but Gerard found that if he didn’t think about it, he wouldn’t be as worried. Maybe he wouldn’t even see Frank today.

He saw Brendon first thing when he walked through the library doors. “Dude, Gee, everyone’s been talking about you.”

“What?” Gerard squawked, feeling himself starting to sweat. “What are they saying?”

Brendon bounced in place and giggled. “Heard that Frank tried to come on to you when he was drunk. He’s gone to work drunk before so everyone knows what he’s like,” Brendon started walking and gestured for Gerard to follow. “Tried to come on to me once. Ryan hated him for two weeks, but Frank didn’t know what he was doing. He comes on to practically everyone when he’s drunk.”

_He comes on to practically everyone when he’s drunk_. So it hadn’t meant anything. Gerard didn’t know whether to be upset or relieved. “Oh, that, um, explains a lot.”

“Gee, I know you fucking like him,” Brendon entered the break room, removing his jacket and shoving it in one of the closets. “He probably likes you too.”

“But you said he comes on to everyone.”

“He _likes_ you, I know it,” Brendon assured. “Ryan!” Ryan Ross entered the room, slowly making his way to Brendon before pecking him on the cheek.

“Hey Brendon,” Ryan turned to face Gerard, “Gerard.”

Gerard nodded in his direction. “Hi Ryan.”

“Was thinking,” Ryan spun around back to Brendon and took both his hands in his, “do you wanna get lunch with me later this afternoon?”

“I’d love to, babe,” Brendon ducked his head down to kiss Ryan on the lips.” Love _you._ ”

“I love you, too,” Ryan grinned, squeezing Brendon’s hands.

Gerard bit his tongue to prevent himself from throwing up. “I’m, uh, gonna, go.” He let a breath out he didn’t know he was holding in. Gerard went down the hallway to get downstairs to the checkout counter. His shift didn’t start for another fifteen minutes but he didn’t have anything better to do. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check if Mikey had texted anything. Of course he had.

_‘hope u resolve things with frank,_ ’ one read. ‘ _and have lots of adopted babies_ ,’ the other one said.

Gerard began to type out a response when suddenly he came into contact with something—or some _one._ His phone plummeted to the ground and he bent down to pick it up. Gerard stood back up only to find himself face to face with Frank.

God, not _now,_ it’s too goddamn early. “Um.”

“Gerard,” was all Frank said. He shifted from foot to foot and fiddled with the fabric of his shirt. “I kind of want to talk—I mean, I’ve been wanting to since, um, that thing happened.”

“I—”

“And Gee, I’m really sorry, please don’t hate me.”

Gerard’s eyes widened. “Oh, God, I don’t hate you, Frank.”

Frank blinked a few times and let a breath out. “I’m really sorry you had to see that side of me. I get really weird when I’m drunk and my mom kind of pissed me off.”

“Do you… want to talk now?” Gerard offered, “I still have ten minutes before my shift.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Frank agreed. Gerard started down the stairs and into a secluded hallway where the meetings usually take place. They were the only two in the hallway so it was completely silent. “Okay,” Frank started, “so, I just got out of college a couple months ago, right? I’m an _adult_ and my mother doesn’t see that. Our entire conversation was on me being gay. She, like, accepts them and stuff, but she doesn’t want her own son to be one.”

“God, Frank, I’m sorry,” Gerard wanted to comfort him or put his hand on his shoulder or _something_.

“It’s fine. Well anyways, I get to Ray’s house and I drink like three beers and Ray makes me crash in his basement. I’m in the same position for like an hour, and then you come down the stairs looking like an angel descended down from heaven and into Ray Toro’s basement.”

Gerard cracked a smile at that one.

“I don’t know, my little crush on you turned into something bigger than it actually was and God, I’m sorry for almost raping you,” Frank finished, glancing down at the tile floor.

“Did you say you had a crush on me?” Gerard asked softly, looking into Frank’s big hazel eyes.

Frank chewed on his lip. “Oops, let that slip out.”

“Holy shit, so you didn’t come on to me for no reason?” Gerard asked. When Frank nodded, staring at the ground like a kicked puppy, Gerard leaned forward, capturing Frank’s lips in a quick kiss.

“Wh… at,” Frank’s eyes widened again and then Gerard was giggling at him. “I thought—”

“You thought what?”

“I thought you left Sunday because you didn’t like me in that way,” Frank admitted.

“Dude, no, you were _drunk_ ,” Gerard explained, “I _do_ have the biggest crush on you _ever_ , but I’m not going to take fucking advantage of you—”

Frank smashed their lips together in a bruising kiss. He wrapped both of his arms around Gerard’s neck and tilted his head for better access. Gerard didn’t know what to do with his hands so he settled with them on Frank’s hips. It was fucking amazing—the kiss itself—it was like there were fucking fireworks and Gerard was surprised that he didn’t hear people clapping in the background. All the anticipation and pining built up inside of Gerard was released and he just wanted to keep Frank by his side forever.

Frank tore his lips away and leaned his forehead against Gerard’s, tucking Gerard’s black hair behind his ear. “We have to get to work.”

“I know,” Gerard said, meeting eyes with Frank. He stepped a couple inches away from Frank or else they would probably get in a heated make out session. “I can meet you after work.”

“That sounds great,” Frank agreed, “see you.” Frank kissed Gerard on the cheek one last time before running to the bookshelves.

Gerard sighed. When he got to the checkout counter, Brendon was already helping a customer.

“Dude, what took you so long? I’ve had my hands full for five minutes,” Brendon accused, roughly scanning a book and handing it back to an old lady.

“Sorry,” Gerard mumbled, gesturing to the customers that his booth was open.

Brendon chuckled. Gerard could already tell by the tone of his laugh what he was going to say next. “You and Frank totally just made out.”

“Don’t go telling people!” Gerard hissed. He greeted a teenage girl who obviously overheard how gay Gerard was. “Sorry,” he said to her.

She smirked at him, taking the book back after he checked it out for her.

\--

Gerard met Frank at the foot of the library stairs and embraced him immediately. “Frankie!”

“Holy shit,” Frank took a step back before wrapping his arms around Gerard’s back. When Gerard detangled his arms from around him, Frank spoke up. “What do you wanna do?”

“Was kind of thinking of finishing what we started on Sunday, honestly,” Gerard said.

“Fuck yeah,” Frank couldn’t get to his car fast enough.

\--

Gerard woke up the next morning in Frank fucking Iero’s bed. Images from the night before flashed through his head and they brought a grin to his face. He looked to his side to see Frank sleeping and pushed the hair out of his eyes. With his other hand, Gerard picked his phone up from the nightstand and went to text Mikey.

_‘mikey omg youve got 2 come over later after work,_ ’ he texted.

Frank’s eyes snapped open. “Mornin’ Gee.” He sat himself up. “Who you textin’?”

“Mikey,” Gerard answered, smiling at the sudden weight of Frank’s head on his shoulder.

“Telling him how you totally had sex with the hottest guy in the world?”

Gerard continued to stroke Frank’s hair with his hand. “Something like that.”

Frank giggled—which was like music to Gerard’s ears—and pushed himself out of bed. “Come on, you should get back to your house if you want to make it to work on time.”

“Are you kicking me out, Iero?” Gerard teased, pulling his pants on.

Frank smiled and tackled Gerard back into the bed, planting kisses down that neck.

“Frank, oh my God, I’m fucking,” Gerard breathed, “ticklish.” He tried to turn his head away but Frank always caught him somehow, kissing whatever patch of skin was open. “You’re the one who said we’d be late for work.”

“Right,” Frank hovered above Gerard and grinned. “You’re right. Goddammit, Gee, you’re so fucking distracting.”

“Thanks,” Gerard slid out of bed and found himself at the front door. “I’ll see you later, Frank.”

“Bye,” Frank kissed the top of Gerard’s head before pushing him out the door.

Gerard walked to the bus stop, a bounce in his step

\--

“Mikey, I couldn’t wait—are you listening?” Gerard had dialed up his brother the minute he was on the bus to work.

“Yeah, I’m listening,” Mikey said, “Pete and his band have a show somewhere and I was too tired to go, so, I’m pretty bored right now.”

“Good, okay, so I think Frank and I are a thing now,” Gerard smiled even though Mikey couldn’t see.

“A thing? Like a _thing_ thing,” Mikey asked.

“Yeah, a _thing_ thing,” Gerard said proudly.

“Fucking finally, I would’ve probably died if you guys hadn’t gotten together,” Mikey sighed.

Gerard laughed, the bus arriving at his stop. He hopped off and started walking down the sidewalk. “I’m so happy right now. I think I actually love my job.”

“ _Temporary_ job, remember?” Mikey corrected.

“Whatever, I don’t think Dark Horse is gonna hire me anytime soon,” Gerard sighed, “I said I was interested on their offer over a week ago and they still haven’t replied back.”

“You never know, Gee,” Mikey said, “oh, Pete’s back. I’ll talk to you after my classes.”

“Okay. Later Mikes,” Gerard shut his phone off and walked into the library. He made it to the checkout center and pulled his phone back out to text Frank that he was here.

“Hey!” someone said next to him, who did not sound like Brendon.

Gerard’s stomach dropped. “Frank, I thought you were reshelving.”

“I got Brendon to switch with me,” Frank smiled, inching closer towards Gerard.

“Oh my God, you’re perfect,” Gerard pulled Frank into a hug and tucked his chin on top of his shoulder. “So fucking perfect. I think I’m gonna cry.”

“Don’t cry, Gee,” Frank ruffled up his hair before strolling back to his booth. “Look, we can talk and shit while checking books out.”

Gerard smiled and faced a young man with a book about World War II. “Hello sir, have you found everything alright today?”

“Yes, thank you. I’m pretty happy today,” the man replied, tapping his fingers against the wood.

Gerard snuck a look at Frank. “Me, too.”

\--

Frank and Gerard were cuddling on Gerard’s couch with a romcom on the TV when it happened.

Gerard’s phone buzzed against his thigh.

“What’s that?” Frank asked, trying to scoot himself closer to Gerard. He leaned his head on Gerard’s shoulder to get a closer view.

“An email,” Gerard said, unlocking his phone. “Wait, oh my God, Frank.”

Frank watched, a worried expression on his face, as Gerard jumped up from the couch and started pacing with his phone in hand. “Oh my God, Frank.”

“What? What happened? Gee, tell _me_ ,” Frank demanded.

“I might get the job at Dark Horse!” Gerard exclaimed, jumping in place. “They told me to come in for an interview and it says there’s a good chance that I’ll get the job.”

“Fucking _nice_ , Gerard!” Frank high-fived Gerard and kissed him on the mouth. “The office across the street from library?”

“That’s the fucking one, Frank!”

“I’m so fucking happy for you, oh my God, this is your dream, right?” Frank pulled Gerard into a hug. “God, you must be ecstatic right now.”

“I’m gonna start crying,” Gerard mumbled into Frank’s shoulder. Sure enough, Frank felt wetness on his shoulder. Gerard tried to blink back tears, but God, he couldn’t stop.

“Aww,” Frank laughed, patting him on the back.

It was like everything Gerard had ever wanted was coming true and it was amazing. He had an amazing boyfriend and a chance at an amazing job.

Mikey would flip his shit when he found out. Maybe Gerard would invite him and Pete over. Ryan and Brendon, too— _oh_ and Ray. He was the one who got him into all of this.

Gerard backed away from Frank and sighed. “God, this fucking library was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Frank put his hands on his hips “Hey, what about me?”

Gerard laughed. “You too.”

  


  


**Author's Note:**

> this is the longest fanfiction i've ever written omg


End file.
